It hasn’t been the best of times to launch an experiment in funding young companies.

Rosenfeld and Pozzo say the hardest year to convince investors to stick with the fund was early 2009, when the stock market was crashing. Since then the group has added a number of younger entrepreneurs who have done well with technology startups. Nearly all of the investors from 2010 elected to re-invest in 2011.

Those investors are also likely to be invited to participate in the Portland Seed Fund, which launches this year, offering smaller amounts of money ($25,000-$100,000) to startups. The new seed fund may compete for local investor resources, but it could also improve the supply of hungry young companies with solid business plans. The Portland Development Commission has invested $500,000 in the seed fund, and the state has committed to investing another half million if the fund can raise $2 million elsewhere.

With capital finally flowing again and the economy slowly recovering, other new opportunities for burgeoning businesses should follow. The thawing of credit, at least in the venture capital arena, has already begun. Rosenfeld notes that with nearly $300 million in new investments, 2010 was the best year for raising venture capital in Oregon since Capybara began tracking investments seven years ago. “The mood is better,” he says. “People have more confidence.”

He’s looking forward to a fresh new crop of deals in 2011. “It’s one of the best feelings in the world,” he says, “when someone comes in with a business plan and you play a small role as a financial catalyst in helping them achieve their dreams. You see them two or three years later and they’ve got a team of great people and a beautiful office and happy customers. That’s what it’s all about.”

BY JACOB PALMER | OB DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR

BY LINDA BAKER | OB EDITOR

At Oregon State University, a 21st century version of the bad dream — nuclear terrorism — is alive and well. This winter, the Department of Nuclear Physics and Radiation Health Physics created a new interdisciplinary graduate emphasis in nuclear forensics, a Sherlock Holmes-sounding program that aims to identify how and where confiscated nuclear and radiological materials were created.

BY CAMBIA HEALTH SOLUTIONS & OREGON BUSINESS COUNCIL | OP-ED

Businesses have a significant stake in the health of Oregonians. In fact, we cannot succeed without it. By committing to using our companies as levers for good health, we invest in our people, our business, our quality of life and our economy.

Brand Stories

BY KATRINA WALKER

Generations of students and graduates have been plagued by the question: What is my true calling in life? Four alumni from Corban University’s Hoff School of Business who graduated in different decades say the school helped them find the answer by giving them a practical, well-rounded education.

It’s happening whether anyone’s ready or not. Businesses here in Oregon and across the U.S. are already experiencing the effects of the largest generational shift in recent history, and these changing tides will impact every level of the workplace — from a company’s executive leadership to its cultural core.

The Oregon Chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services, will be hosting it’s Annual Dinner and Keynote event on March 12, 2015. The evening promises to be memorable, with this years Keynote, Christine McKinley.